Wednesday, September 5, 2007

Well, maybe not a thousand, but I did get quite a few requests for the sauce that went with the homemade pasta my Uncle Bill made during my trip to New York. We did two videos together, one was the “Homemades,” and one was an amazing chicken recipe called Chicken D’Arduini. In that post I said I would try to demo the olive oil sauce that went over the homemade fettuccine. Well, I haven’t filmed that yet, and have lots of great excuses why, some of which are even true.

So, in the meantime, since it’s such a simple sauce, I’m just going to talk you through it. You can see most of what’s happening in the photo of the pan. I can’t give exact amounts because it’s just not that kind of sauce.

While the pasta is cooking (I think we cooked about 2 pounds), put a heavy sauté pan on low heat. Add lots of olive oil, maybe a good cup. Add 5 or 6 anchovy fillets, and 4 cloves of minced garlic. Sauté on low until the anchovies melt and the garlic begins to sizzle. Add some chopped fresh basil and some hot pepper flakes and cook for another minute.Do NOT brown the garlic. Turn off the heat. In a large pasta bowl, cut up a stick of butter into small pieces. Grate about a cup of Parmesan cheese (the real stuff!). When the pasta is cooked and drained, add it to the pasta bowl, and toss with the butter for a few moments. Pour over the olive oil mixture, and add the grated Parmesan (save a little for the table), and toss until everything is coated. This is best served as a side dish due to its obvious richness, and was great with the Chicken D’Arduini, as it would with any similar recipe.

This is not the type of pasta to eat if you are thinking about grams of fat, or calories, or those new “skinny jeans.” In fact, this is a dish best eaten when your brain is completely void of all thought. So, clear your mind as you slurp the buttery, salty, spicy, garlicky, cheesy goodness. Enjoy!

It's funny, in blind tastes tests most people prefer the cheaper supermarket olive oils than the expensive brands. Obviously there are great expensive ones also, but for everyday cooking a Colavita is good, or Bertolli.

The base is called: Aglio, Olio e peperoncino. Which simplay means: Garlic, Oil and a certain sort of small Chilis.

If someone of goes to Italy or somewhere near the mediterranean sea you should buy some bottles of really good olive-oil. The difference to the standard supermarket stuff is unbelievable. There's really good oilve oil in Marocco, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Israel, Libanon... Every region has its own special taste.

Thanks. When u mention 2lbs noodles is this for fresh? How much sauce would this make for dried pasta like spaghetti or linguini noodles? Like a 500g packet? Will give my feedback soon after i've tried this.

Made this and it was really good. I actually ended up with a bit more sauce cos i used less spaghetti so i reserved some and poured just enough to coat the pasta. The sauce was great to eat with warm crusty bread the next day. Hehe.

Oh and i used 2 dried minced red chili which managed to add a bit of heat. I didn't need to add salt cos the anchovies were already salty and i used salted butter. Yummy and so quick and easy to make. Thanks. =)

By the way, do u think squeezing the juice of one lemon next time at the end might be a good idea?